On Thursday the dollar slid lower against its peers, as Wednesday's disappointing U.S. data continued
to weigh and as investors awaited additional U.S. economic reports due
later in the day.
A day earlier, the dollar came under pressure after data on Wednesday indicated that U.S. industrial production fell 0.6% in March, the largest fall since August 2012 and worse than economists' expectations for a 0.3% decline. This added to betting that the Federal Reserve could delay hiking interest rates until late 2015, instead of June.
The U.S. is expected to release a string of reports, including jobless claims, building permits, housing starts and manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia region.
EUR/USD edged up 0.09% to 1.0691.
The euro was fragile after the European Central Bank said Wednesday it expects to fully implement its trillion euro quantitative easing program. ECB President Mario Draghi turned down the opinion that recent signs of a recovery in the euro zone economy could see the bank scale back its buying program. Draghi also played down concerns that the asset purchase program will struggle to find enough euro zone bonds to buy.
The pound was higher, with GBP/USD rising 0.42% to 1.4905.
The greenback was steady against the yen, with USD/JPY at 119.09 and also steady versus the Swiss franc with USD/CHF at 0.9652.
In Switzerland, data earlier showed that producer prices rose 0.2% last month, beating expectations for a 0.1% uptick, after a 1.4% decline in February.
The commodity-exposed Australian, New Zealand and Canadian dollars were broadly stronger, with AUD/USD jumping 1.25% to 1.2267 and NZD/USD gaining 0.50% to 0.7629, while USD/CAD edged 0.21% lower to trade at 1.2265.
The Aussie was boosted after official data showed that the number of employed people in Australia rose by 37,700 in March, exceeding expectations for an increase of 15,000. February's figure was revised to a 41,900 gain from a previously estimated 15,600 rise. Australia's unemployment ticked down to 6.1% last month from 6.2% in February, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated at 6.3%, according to the report. Analysts had expected the unemployment rate to remain at 6.3%.
